Supreme Court to expand from 33 to 37 judges, Bill amends 1956 Act
The official record is out of date. News reports that this received presidential assent on 2026-08-12, while the official record below still shows “Introduced”. We show the government's own record until it is updated.
Reported 2026-08-12 ↗
This Bill increases the maximum number of Judges in the Supreme Court of India from thirty-three to thirty-seven (excluding the Chief Justice of India). It aims to address the rising backlog of cases and allow for the regular constitution of larger Benches to hear cases involving substantial questions of law.
The Supreme Court of India (specifically the strength of its judicial bench) and the Government of India (regarding the financial expenditure for additional posts, staff, and infrastructure).
- Amends Section 2 of the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956 to substitute the word 'thirty-three' with 'thirty-seven'.
- Repeals the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Ordinance, 2026 (Ord. 1 of 2026).
- Deems actions taken under the repealed Ordinance to be valid under this Act.
- Deemed to have come into force on May 16, 2026.
Written from the document by AI, and checked against it. The original below is authoritative.
Where this law is now — Introduced
The original document
Document details
| Official title | THE SUPREME COURT (NUMBER OF JUDGES) AMENDMENT BILL, 2026 |
| Source body | Parliament of India — Bills (Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha) |
| Reference number | 128 |
| Status | active (bill) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Closing date | — |
| Documents | 1 |